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No need to panic in Patong: everybody else has the virus, too

Virus Alarm: Patong Faces Swine Flu Spray

Saturday, June 13, 2009
PATONG bars and nightclubs are to be sprayed with cleansing fluid from 2pm on Sunday in an attempt to forestall the spread of swine flu following confirmation of a single case in one Phuket nightclub.

According to local health authorities, a Thai woman living in Patong now has been confirmed as having the virus.

However, while Thai authorities remain concerned about outbreaks, officials in Australia now say they have stopped counting the number of cases because there are so many.

The World Health Organisation declared a pandemic yesterday, but made the point that there is no need for travel restrictions, border closures, or an over-reaction.

Dr Pongsawat Rattanasang, Director of Public Health in Phuket, said today that the anonymous woman's case was the first on Phuket.

He checked for himself yesterday that the patient was improving.

She was coughing and had a sore throat, but he said she would be well enough to stop taking medication on Monday.

''There is no need to worry too much,'' he told Phuketwan. ''People should try to avoid catching it but it is not the nasty disease that it seemed at first.''

Patong nightclubs and bars have agreed to fumigate voluntarily as a precaution and there was no cause for public alarm, Dr Pongsawat added.

The unnamed club where the woman had been working will remain closed for three days in an effort to spray and eradicate the virus.

A meeting of officials at Provincial Hall in Phuket City on Friday opted for the spray on Sunday as a proper cause of action.

However, in other parts of the world, where numbers of cases are much higher than in Thailand, reaction is now low-key because of the scale of the outbreak.

Tens of thousands of cases can be expected in Thailand, and in other countries. Millions of people will catch the virus.

Australian tourism authorities have been blaming local state governments for over-reacting to the outbreak, causing needless bad publicity.

Australian travellers are now likely to be ''exporting'' the swine flu to countries they visit. The largest numbers of tourists on Phuket are visitors from Australia.

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Comments

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swine flu is not paniky - but as a blessing in disguise people has been more hygiene conscious - but we have daily deaths in thousands due to malnutrition, hunger, diabetis, bp, aids, diorrhea etc.let us not forget that, please.

Posted by balasubramanian on August 12, 2009 21:35


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